Trapping, neutering, and releasing cats to kill more birds is ignorance gone to seed. It has been proven the number of cats will increase to the available food level. They are not territorial and will do nothing to deter the abandonment of more cats. What is needed is support for a vigorous campaign of euthanasia to eliminate the cat problem, not perpetuate it!

A York University professor’s new book is raising the alarm about an environmental crisis that threatens our forests and the battle against global warming. In Silence of the Songbirds, biologist Bridget Stutchbury (left) argues that songbirds are disappearing from our skies – an environmental danger sign equivalent to canaries in a coal mine. "We’ve lost nearly half the birds that filled our skies just 40 years ago," says Stutchbury, who is York's Canada Research Chair in Ecology and Conservation. "This is not just an endangered species problem. What we’re facing is a severe loss of ecosystem that comes with removing millions of birds from our forests each year."This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of American environmentalist and author Rachel Carson, whose 1962 book Silent Spring first warned of the dangers of the pesticide, its detrimental impact on the world’s bird population and its threat to human health. Stutchbury has devoted decades to the study of migratory songbirds and how their habitats are linked with our ecological well-being. Her book details the 10,000-kilometre migratory journey of songbirds from Canada to South America and highlights the environmental threats faced by songbirds. She illustrates that little has changed since 1962. LINK

Wednesday, May 2, 2007

A Jacksonville woman was at a park in Arlington when she was scratched, clawed and bitten, by a cat, according to police.The Blue Cypress Park is usually a place where there are kids playing, people golfing and others enjoying the outdoors. However, a woman said what she found near the park drinking fountain was a combative cat.The victim didn't want to talk about the attack on camera, but Mike Breen was also at the park on Monday and said he saw the feline.

"It was just acting a little abnormal," Breen said.The woman near the drinking fountain was not the only person who had a run-in with the cat Monday. On the other side of the park, the feral cat also scratched a golfer.LINK

How sad. According to an April 20 story, local Girl Scouts are learning at a young age that re-abandoning a domestic companion animal to the wild is OK. We need to teach our children real responsibility and humanity towards animals, but that is not the essence of Trap/Neuter/Release.TNR is a misguided attempt at controlling overpopulation that results in environmental irresponsibility, the mortality of native wildlife, and miserable living conditions and tragic deaths for cats. Teaching them about TNR no doubt will also convey the message that emotion and not science should be their guide in life.MORE

This is truly amazing. Be sure to click on NEXT PAGE at the bottom of each page; there are 5 pages in all. A lady found a hummingbird nest and got pictures all the way from the egg to leaving the nest. Took 24 days from birth to flight.